• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Anyone else taking Citicoline?

rwac

Senior Member
Messages
172
If you guys are finding that citicoline is a mixed blessing or no longer works for you, uridine might be worth a shot. Citicoline is basically a combination of choline and cytidine. cytidine turns into uridine quickly, and uridine has a calm energizing effect IMHO.

I'm reasonably convinced that it's the cytidine part of citicoline that's beneficial, never noticed any good effects from other sources of choline like alpha-gpc.
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,688
Interesting about uridine, rwac. What dose do you take? When I looked on Amazon, Jarrow has a 250 MG, and Cardiovascular Research has a 25 MG.
 

rwac

Senior Member
Messages
172
I'm not really taking any at the moment. But I used to to take the Cardiovascular Research UMP 300mg product. This is similar to the Jarrow and it's Uridine Mono Phosphate (UMP)

The 25mg is Triacetyluridine (TAU) which is a more potent form.

It might be worth trying either.
 

Ninan

Senior Member
Messages
523
I just took 80 mgs of Jarrows citicoline (1/3 capsule, thought I was being careful) half an hour ago and am experiencing something like a panic attack for the first time in decades. Feel like I can't breathe but I can. Obviously some kind of over stimulation. Half life should be about 50 hours. Hope it doesn't last that long. o_O

Sure wish all supplements had a note on them saying "Hi, Ninan! This is the way you will react to this: ..."
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,688
@rwac, I'm so glad you mentioned uridine. I had never heard of it.

I've noticed 2 effects. It's very calming, so I take it at night with other supplements to help with sleep. It also helped me increase doses of choline supplements, which in the past, have all given me insomnia, even in minute doses first thing in the morning.

I take the Jarrow brand.
 

Ninan

Senior Member
Messages
523
Update: I'm currently taking about 25 mgs/day (1/10 Jarrow Citicoline capsule) and I'm having a quite amazing effect. More energy, brain fog goes away and I don't seem to get worse afterwards. Low dosing seems to be the key for me as my brain was obviously over stimulated by just 80 mgs. Makes it much cheaper too!
 

student

Senior Member
Messages
166
Jar. Citicolin 250, 1/ 3 kaps. sublingual has an effect. It brings me back to calm when I start feel a hipe.

When I am working, Gupta training was not feasable. This Citicholin gave a similar effect. In working situation I have sometimes used 3 kaps. 750 mg. I should try the low dose more often. Opening the Kapsule makes it easy to adjust quantity.
 

heyitisjustin

Senior Member
Messages
162
Also, dopamine can convert to norepinephrine in some people.
Dopamine stimulates me. In that regard, do you know how/why dopamine converts to norepinephrine?
I'm wondering if my aversion to dopamine illustrates something important about me.
 

heyitisjustin

Senior Member
Messages
162
I wish i could add something to the technical side of the discussion but i don't understand the whole Acetylcholine, Muscarinic mechanism very well.

I would like to stress again that Citicoline has a major positive effect on my pain and energy symptoms of cfs.
To the point where my body feels pain free, clear and ready for action when i am taking it.
Its quite dramatic and curious.

But...in me at least, its negative effects of depression are intolerable. That leaves me somewhere between elated and despairing.

Maybe i have some genetic issue which makes it cfs-effective in me, so i wouldnt want to ram it down peoples throats.......On the other hand, maybe it deals with some common pathological problem in me/cfs(?)

Today i took a very small amount of citicoline sublingually and got a noticeable but more modest effect of both positive and negative. This may be a workable regime for me. I have to investigate the half life of citicoline, its interactions with other supplements/drugs or possible choline/phospholipid(?) alternatives.

One suggestion i got was perhaps upping an antidepressant to offset the depressive effects, or adding a muscarinic antagonist. This might be a good option. Rich Van mentioned scopolamine, but there may be many other choices.

Rich Vank discussed phospholipids ;
Given that the methylation cycle appears to be partially blocked in many or most
cases of CFS, use of citicoline might be a way to expedite the
replacement of phospholipids that have been damaged by oxidative
stress in CFS.

My bottle of Jarrows Citicoline says, ' Citicoline consumption promotes brain metabolism by enhancing the synthesis
of acetylcholine, restoring phospholipid content in the brain....'.

Maybe its the phospholipid action that is proving effective, in which case, i could take alternatives ?

I've got a lot of reading to do.

Dopamine makes me happy. It might be worth a shot. As much as possible you can try to alleviate depression with mindfullness, meditation, sex, nature, food, therapy and the like. It might not make a huge windfall as both body and mind are involved here, but if it allows you to take a little bit more choline that could be good